Black & White Blowout this week! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Charlie · #1 10-16-2009, 05:41 PM

This past week, I accumulated a decent handful of sets... seven in all. The first load was 6 sets... nuttin very special, but still a decent haul. They include...

Sentinel 7"... condition of CRT unknown at this point. Haven't even opened it up. The knobs were missing. I already have two of these... one with a good tube. Hopefully this one will have a good tube as well.

RCA early 50's metal with fake finish... I think it was a 17" set, dont remember, but tested very weak and heating it up a little made no difference.

Setchel Carlson portable... i have one of these already with a woodgrain laminent, so a second one is welcomed. The CRT tested just fine in this one.

Setchel Carlson small console... I really like this set. I think it's a 17"... tester would not light up the heaters, and I noticed the cap of the CRT was quite loose, so I might only need to resolder the pins.... hopefully! It has wood veneer... no fake stuff. I will strip and refinish this set as it's somewhat grungy right now.

GE portable red & white... CRT tested good. Cabinet has some surface rust... should clean up and repaint with good results I think. It actually has all the knobs on it!

Zenith Space Command portable... CRT condition unknown at this time (I didn't have the right adapter for my tester). Insides look pretty good. WOW this is a HEAVY TV! I've never played with one of these early portables and I'm surprised at how it's built like a tank! The remote was included!

Charlie · #2 10-16-2009, 05:46 PM

My second run was for a late-50's Westinghouse. It has the fake finish on the cabinet with a few scratches on the side. It's series strung and the owner had it plugged in (actually was on and he did not realize it). It seems there was no B+ as the tubes were all lit but no sound or light on the screen.

This set has power tuning. Change the channel by pressing the "automatic tuning" bar). So far have not located the fine tuner. Most of the labels on the back of the set are gone. The CRT tested good after raising it to 8 volts, so leaving it there for a while might help things. The chassis number shows it to be in Sams 388.

Unfortunately, the yoke cover has fallen apart and the yoke windings just dangle there on the neck... as do the centering rings. Once I find my Sams for it, I'll see if I can find a yoke.

Edit: Forgot to mention... the safety glass was missing on this set. Guess someone broke it at some point. The owner said this was the way he got it... he wasn't aware there was supposed to be a glass there.

bandersen · #3 10-16-2009, 09:36 PM

Wow! Nice haul

Where did you find all these sets?

AUdubon5425 · #4 10-16-2009, 11:59 PM

Did those come out of Mobile? Those date stickers on some of the sets look like the ones used in the defunct Alabama Broadcasting Museum.

Charlie · #5 10-17-2009, 07:20 AM

Don't know about stickers. I asked, and he didn't know either. The guy had purchased this stuff out of a warehouse... he was going for an old gasoline pump, and the tv's were included. These were on the west side of HOuston... an uncle in Katy called to tell me bout them. I don't really know if they originated from H-town. I haven't dug around in them other than checking crts. I'll look later and see if there are any repair shop tags or stickers on them. If there's something in there from Alabama, you just might have your defunct museaum.

I found the Westinghouse set on CL in houston. Yesterday, I took a friend to the airport there and this set was on my way home. The guy was selling un-needed items out of his home due to being out of work. He's had the set as a conversation piece.

The Westinghouse seems to have been a Houston set as the motorized-tuning presets were set for 2, 8, 11, 13.

Charlie · #6 10-17-2009, 01:46 PM

Just a quickie glance... found a service sticker on the back of the Zenith. It was serviced in 1971 in Houston... obviously not from Mobile.

The Sentinel's CRT cap is off. It was still connected to the plug and resting in the bottom of the set, so I will have to resolder all of the pins and glue it back into place.